2 PETER 1 (NOTES OF A READING)
[p. 283] 2 PETER 1 (NOTES OF A READING)
Ques Is there any reason why Peter is spoken of as a bondman and an apostle of Jesus Christ?
CAC It is noticeable that all the writers of the epistles refer to themselves as bondmen. A bondman is a slave, he had no option. To have the sense of the Lord’s ownership and His right to command us utterly and in every detail of our lives is most important. Peter would not be fit for apostleship if he were not a bondman. So it is most important, in reference to any gift or service that we render, that we do it in the spirit of a bondman, and that would be most important in these days when lawlessness abounds.
Rem “To shew to his bondmen what must shortly take place; and he signified it ... to his bondman John” (Revelation 1: 1).
Ques Would you say that the combination of apostle and bondman would show that what was sent was unreservedly of the Lord?
CAC And there is the one also who has “precious faith”; the three things together would complete the thing: bondman, apostle, and one who has precious faith.
Rem It speaks of the Lord as “taking a bondman’s form” (Philippians 2: 7).
CAC That is the most wonderful of all!
Rem It is the rights of the Lord as Despot over us; if they are recognised we should fall into our right place, to be put where He pleases and for Him to do what He pleases with us, and He always does the best for us.
CAC It would settle most of our difficulties at one stroke. I suppose most of our difficulties arise from the fact that we think that we are entitled to do what we think best, which is really not true.
Rem It is really in [p. 284] principle lawlessness.
CAC Yes. The bondman became such by purchase, did he not?
Rem If by purchase, each one cost something.
CAC Yes.
Ques Does the first epistle give the other side — redemption — which is a fuller thought than purchase? The Lord is Despot, absolute Owner of what He has purchased, but does redemption bring in a fuller and deeper thought of the cost and suffering, though it enters also into the thought of purchase?
CAC Redemption has in view, I suppose, the satisfaction of the Redeemer in having secured for Himself what had come under some liability. We get a positive side; we are redeemed to God — a positive result. God gets what His heart desires.
It is good to think of having just the same precious faith that Peter had.
Ques Is it not remarkable that the righteousness of God is brought in in that connection?
CAC Yes, I suppose so. I ask a question, Is righteousness used there rather in the sense of faithfulness? The righteousness of God there signifies His faithfulness. That is, it is a matter of God’s faithfulness to bring about that there shall be those with the same kind of faith as the apostle here. The Lord said, “When the Son of man comes, shall he indeed find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18: 8). Unless God worked, it would not be so. There will be such, but only through the faithfulness of God. Righteousness and faithfulness go together in the girdle of the Messiah (Isaiah 11: 5).
Rem Only God could bring about that the saints together enjoy these things as one in the truth of the body.
CAC Yes, you can count upon that whatever happens, and however men fall away. We can fall back upon the righteousness of God. He will see to it that precious faith shall become the portion of His elect people.
Ques Why should Peter style himself Simon [p. 285] Peter in this epistle?
CAC It is the responsible name. He is writing to saints, largely having in view their responsible course and the exercises and diligence requisite on their part in order to get the good of things.
Ques Would it relate to what Peter as a vessel had been under the teaching of the Lord?
CAC Yes, he needed a good deal of education and formation, did he not? He seems to make very much of the knowledge of God.
Rem He links grace and peace with it.
CAC It is what we know of God that will carry us through. He has come out in righteousness, grace, peace, etc.
Ques Is it the experimental knowledge of God, so that I learn what He is and can be in adverse circumstances, or what had you in mind?
CAC Yes, a personal knowledge of God.
Rem We learn what He can be to us in our pathway, and there is what He is in His attributes and glory, so there are the two ways.
CAC It would seem from these two verses that we should be completely furnished if we had this knowledge of God. It is a word that means personal knowledge, not anything which we might only have heard or read, but personal knowledge of God; that is a great matter. J.N.D. said of a brother at one time that he did not know anybody who knew so much of God and so little of the Bible!
Ques Would it be something like Hagar who could speak of a God who revealed Himself?
Rem Enoch was one who walked with God when there was no Bible.
CAC Yes, that is so. You may have read a good deal, and then when any little test comes in you are all at sea. It shows the importance of finding the knowledge of God for ourselves. Proverbs sets it out as a great prize to be won — a [p. 286] great treasure to be found. So it says, “If thou seekest her as silver and searchest for her as for hidden treasures: then shalt thou understand the fear of Jehovah, and find the knowledge of God” (Proverbs 2: 4, 5). Well, it is better to have the knowledge of God than to know the whole Bible by heart. It is through the knowledge of God Himself spoken of as wisdom. That is, God becomes that personally Himself, so that to those who know Him He becomes the pledge of everything that may be required or necessary. That would include everything you might have, a circumstance in which you could not find a scripture, but you could find God! So that all things that pertain to life and godliness are given through the knowledge of Him.
Ques Should we be thus prepared in view of what is ahead of us, if we were spared?
CAC Certain things will be necessary as long as we are here to maintain us in life and inward spiritual vitality. And certain things will preserve us in outward godliness and walk, but a knowledge of God will furnish all the things that we need.
Ques You have not yet explained what it is?
CAC Well, I suppose it lies in all that in which it has attracted us. It says He has called us by His own glory and virtue, which is what He has set forth of Himself in Christ. It is that which has attracted us and really separated us from the world. We cannot ponder too much on the precious record of the life of Jesus; it is God’s own glory. We should read every word of the gospels as the shining out of God’s own glory. It is by the attraction of all that that God has called us. God has laid Himself out to charm and attract our poor hearts by the shining out of His own glory in Jesus. Well, it throws everything else in the world into the shade. So the life of Jesus is the form that divine glory necessarily takes in a world of sin. With the presence of sin and evil it must come in to crush that which cannot be the revelation of what God is, nor is in the form of the life of Jesus, so that [p. 287] not an element of sin or evil crossed His path that did not bring out a ray of God’s glory. And I suppose He attracts us that some little ray might come out in us, “that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh” (2 Corinthians 4: 11); but we must know the attractiveness of it first. God has begun by attracting us, so that the life of Jesus is presented to us in the gospels. If it does not attract us, it shows we have no link at all with God. Every flower has a power to appropriate that part of the sunshine that will come out in itself, as its own colour. Each flower makes its own selection, and according to grace each member of the household of faith selects a ray of glory to reproduce it.
Rem It is remarkable that glory and virtue should be put together.
CAC What would you say that virtue was?
Ques Would it be that glory comes from God, and virtue is the power to appropriate it?
CAC I think that is very beautiful. We can see that glory without virtue would not have been of much account in a world of sin. You could not think of such a thing as glory without virtue in Christ. Glory comes out in the life of Jesus, but He never surrendered one jot or tittle that belonged to God; that was virtue. He never allowed anything of the glory to be soiled; He preserved it. We see virtue set forth in the life of Christ; it is not dreaming of wonderful things that are unobtainable.
Rem Godliness is to be brought into every circumstance of life.
CAC There is a necessity all the time of virtue and living in godliness. A godly man will suffer rather than allow anything that would soil the glory.